Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-02-20

been in this condition all the evening.
Miss Carlyon's voice was cold and strained,
and her restless ewes travelled the room
over as she spoke to me.
Westhaveu watched her every word
anxiously. l had not believed him capa-
Bile of such deep feeling for his unloyed
wife. / administered a sleeping draught
and left the room, followed by Westhayen.
1 turned to speak to him. He stood be-
fore me like u desperate, hunted animal,
and there flashed across me a sudden, hor-
rible suspicion that he was in some way
connected with his wife's illness. An in
stant's swift reflection convinced me of my
injustice-her symptoms were not those
of a person to whom ar injurious drug has
been given, and the remorse / felt colored
my manner TO him with even greater kind
ness.
So / gave him an opinion which was the
result more of weeks of observation than
of my visit that evening to the patient.
Frankly, l will tell yOu," l said, that
/ think Mrs. Westhaven will eventually
succumb to the same illness which attacked
her sister. Three months ago l would
have refuted this theory as untenable IN
view of her superintendent vitality, but to
the eyes of n stranger it is possibly more
apparent than to her family, To you, that
she is very much changed in health and
appearance" l paused. Westhaven drew
his breath in short, dry grasps. His hands
moved restlessly along the back OF a char
before him.
"Do you think my wife will die?"
| scarcely recognized his voice. | re-
piled gently:
Not necessarily SO. A change of eli
mate has effected much in the case of Miss
CarlyOn; she is certainly a different person
from what she was when | first saw her.
In fact" | added reflectively, Miss Car
lyon has gained in almost exact proportion
to Mrs. Westhayen's loss"
Westhayen started violently. His face
grew livid. He regarded me with a strange
expression, one which | could not fathOm.
1 continued quietly:
II should give Mrs. WeSthaven no medi-
cines. Ii she does not improve you must
take her back to the east. Miss CarlyOn
need not be considered; | believe her to he
quite restored to health"
think no one ever impressed me 50 dis
agreeably as Miss Carlyon ut this period.
She had recovered her health in a most ex-
traOrdinary way, but it seemed TO bring
her neither happiness nor good temper. 1t
was impossible to converse with her upon
the most trivial topics. Her caprlclOus
temperament was wearisOme i'll the eX-
treme and her Indifference tO her sister
utterly repulsiye. Westhaven was Ohli-
vious to it. Whatever was the fascination
| Il. ..,nkl 49,. hin, ha Nynl anita sinh
s~ervient to the spell. She chung persiSten-
tly To his side and m%OnOpOlized the time
and attention which should have been
given for humanity's sake to his wife.
| avoided Westhaven. He was - great
disappointment to me, and had entirely
lost respect for him, though | firmly be-
lieved his greatest sin TO be weakness IN
the hands of an Inscriptions woman.
One day he came to me quite beside him.
self. Miss Carlyon was ill-in the old way
he had believed her entirely recovered
he was in despair. His wife, he said,
was much better. did not know what to
advise. | was not Il practicing physician,
and | had come tn the firm conclusion that
| had best not NEEDLE with 4 complicated
and perplexing hereditary trouble which
promised no successful cure. preferred
not to advise ut all, but promised to see
them in the evening. Westhaven left me
deiectedly.
| saw nothing of him through the day
and toward 3 O'Clock in the afternoon re-
preached myself for what might seem to
him IN objectionable indifference ON my
part and, on an impulse, | went directly
To his rooms. The day WAS insuiferably
hot. There were few guests in the hotel,
the season was well over and no one was
visible in the corridors. There was not a
sound save the SplaShing OF u fountain
which PLAYED in the court below, cooling
the mir de~liciOusly. | walked lazily along
the gallery. gazing upward at the bit Of
blue sky above the open court, intensely
blue ~ only a tropical sky can he.
| Suddenly paused, transfiNed, lncapa-
BILE of further motion. | stood before a
door leading into an inner sitting room Of
Westhaven's n room which had entered
but once. which | believed he used Tor n
study. The large glass ye%ntilatOr above
the door was swung partially open, and
TIMED ut such an angle that the interior OF
the room, glowing in the fierce sunlight
| which poured into il through the open
window, was reflected with the fatal de-
tailed reproduction of photography, upon
| the surface of the glass.
Every detail of its horrible revelation
was burned upon my brain i'll an instant.
Upon a long table before the window
| through which the sun beat hotly, lay n
long. glass case, with convex sides, and
within this uncovered case, livid, CHASTITY,
unconscious, lay Mrs. Westhavcn. Her
face was drawn by IN expression of terri
Bile agony, her limbs were rigid, her hands
clenched convulsively, her beautiful white
breast WAS bare. The blazing rays Of the
sun concentrated by the strong lens formed
by the convex side of the case threw the
spectrum directly over her heart. She
was absolutely mOtiOnleSs; | could not see
even that she breathed. Just where the
actinic rays of the spectrum fell upon her
soft skin, those mysterious rays, whose
| terrible chemical power has yet to he
fathomed, were placed two fine glass tubes
connecting with a magnetic electric battery
by the side of the case, manipulated by
Westhaven.
- His face | could not see; it was bent
over the body of his wife; his whole attl-
tude breathed a desperate and fearful
anxiety. Through those delicate Tubes
flowed a something, ultra etheric, the
f~aintest aurora, and passing into the bat
terry was transmitted by means of connect
ing wires TO the hands of Miss Carlyon,
who. seated almost directly beneath the
ventilator, held the handles of the battery
firmly in her grasp. Her head was thrown
blck, her face was clearly reflected above
me, her eyes were shining, her breath
came quickly. The silence OF death was
in tha room; | felt the painful excitement
OF the scientist pending a dangerous eN-
pertinent.
| could have shrickcd aloud in nervous
horror, hut | seemed To have lost the power
of articulation. | felt sure that this ultra
etheric matter was vital fluid the very
essence of life. IL must be conveyed by
odic force engendered by the unreasonable
power of the actinic rays. Then a foul
murder was being committed in this room
by n process OF incOnceiyable torture! As
I stonJ thnra nnwarleSS penetratinp to